Calvin Harris has secured a $13.5 million judgment in the first phase of a bitter legal feud with his longtime business manager Thomas St. John, whom the EDM star has accused of abusing their financial relationship to fund a real estate “boondoggle.”
Harris (real name Adam Wiles) initiated arbitration proceedings this summer, alleging that in 2023, St. John fraudulently funneled $22 million from the Scottish DJ’s accounts towards a Hollywood recording studio and office space development called CMNTY Culture Campus, which never broke ground and has since undergone foreclosure. St. John denies Harris’ claims as “categorically false” and maintains that the artist was a willing investor.
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Harris funded CMNTY Culture in two tranches: a $10 million loan and a $12 million equity investment. Retired federal judge Michael R. Wilner, who’s refereeing the dispute in confidential arbitration, ruled in December that St. John undisputedly failed to repay the loan by its due date.
“Hollywood LLC and TSJ are each jointly and severally liable to claimants for the principal sum of $13,438,666.55 with respect to respondents failure to pay claimants under the loan documents, which consists of: the loan principal ($10,000,000), the total interest payments ($2,666,666.56), the origination fee ($200,000), the exit fee ($200,000), and the late charge thereunder ($371,999.99),” reads Judge Wilner’s order, made public by Harris’ team in a Jan. 7 motion to confirm the arbitration award.
The retired judge has not yet made a decision about the status of Harris’ $12 million equity investment or the larger question of whether St. John engaged in fraud to procure the funding. Those issues will continue to be litigated in ongoing arbitration.
Reps for Harris and St. John did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday (Jan. 14).
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A deep dive by Billboard last year reported that the CMNTY Culture project arose from the sale of songwriter Philip Lawrence’s catalog of Bruno Mars hits in 2020. Lawrence opted to park some of the proceeds from that deal in a real estate venture to take advantage of tax benefits and brought on St. John, his business manager, as a partner.
St. John eventually became the sole steward of CMNTY Culture after Lawrence exited due to financial issues. It was then that St. John turned to Harris for funding, also taking on other investors and a $35 million loan from real estate credit firm Parkview Financial.
St. John never built CMNTY Culture. Instead, the project stalled amid a downturn in the Los Angeles office space market, and CMNTY Culture announced plans last year to pivot to a residential real estate model instead. But it has now defaulted on the Parkview loan, which was secured with the Hollywood land as collateral.
Parkview foreclosed on CMNTY Culture in December and bought out the property for $25 million. The lender filed a lawsuit against St. John on Tuesday (Jan. 13), alleging he still owes another $16 million to satisfy the initial loan, plus interest.
Meanwhile, St. John’s future as a business manager looks uncertain. The U.S. arm of his eponymous management firm, Thomas St. John Group, declared bankruptcy last year and is currently trying to liquidate its assets. In addition to the Harris arbitration, fellow EDM star Eric Prydz sued St. John in November for allegedly taking $269,000 in unauthorized commissions. St. John denies those claims as “wholly fabricated.”
